The endive is native to the south of Asia, probably from the Hindustan peninsula, although some authors regard it as coming from the Mediterranean area. It was already well-known by the Egyptians, that used it in salads and as cooked vegetable. In the XIIIth century it was introduced in the centre and north of Europe. The first references of this crop in America come from 1803.

The FAO gathers the production data of endives along with that of lettuce and chicory. By continents, the main producer is Asia, representing half of the world-wide production. It is followed by North America and Europe. The production by continents is as follows:

Continent	Thousand tons	%
Africa	63	-
Asia	8,428	50
Europe	3,560	21
North America	4,502	27
South America	208	1
Oceania	165	1
Total	16,926	100

Source: FAO Production Yearbook, 2000 *
* Joint production of lettuce, chicory and curly and straight endive.

The main producing country is China, followed by the United States, and with an inferior production, Spain, Italy and India.

The 10 countries with greater production of lettuce, endive and chicory are:

Country	Thousand tons
China	6,255
The United States	4,230
Spain	1,050
Italy	923
India	770
France	630
Japan	540
Turkey	295
Belgium-Luxembourg	180
United Kingdom	175

Source: FAO Production Yearbook, 2000 *
* Joint production of lettuce, chicory and curly and straight endive.

Among the export countries, Spain is the selling’s leader, followed by the United States and Italy. These countries are also among the four main producers.

The main countries exporting endive, lettuce and chicory are:

Country	Thousand tons
Spain	420
The United States	318
Italy	126
The Netherlands	89
France	80
Belgium-Luxembourg	77
Mexico	29
Jordan	19
Germany	14
Canada	13

Source: FAO Production Yearbook, 2000 *
* Joint production of lettuce, chicory and curly and straight endive.